Babies Make Four: September 2023

We've finished out our 2023 baseball trips with one final excursion to Phoenix, AZ!

Last year, I had to travel to Phoenix for work and Dillon joined me. We both really loved the scenery and how different the Southwest dessert is compared to the mountains of NC. We went in October last year, so after any baseball games were being played and we kept talking the whole trip about how we wanted to take the kids.

Last spring, we were in the kitchen fixing breakfast and talking about random things, I think mainly about concerts we wanted to see this year and we thought about Metallica. Luke had recently become obsessed with the band and Dillon wanted to take him to a show. While they were on tour, they were only hitting up a few select cities and no where on the east coast. They were, however, playing in Phoenix. Allegient had just opened a direct flight to Phoenix from Asheville (leaving on Friday, returning on Monday), Metallica was playing over Labor Day weekend and the Diamondbacks were playing the Orioles at home that weekend. It was the perfect trifecta and within an hour, our flight was booked and tickets for Metallica were purchased.

We anticipated the big end of summer blowout and were all jazzed when it came time to go. Unfortunately, the Sunday before our trip we had a family emergency. Dillon's 98 year old grandmother, was declining. She'd been struggling with some health issues the past few weeks and her body was just starting to shut down. We went back and forth whether we would be able to get to Phoenix with such a serious situation. She ended up passing away Sunday and her funeral was mid-week so we were able to keep our plans.

We left for the airport on Friday morning. An early pick up from school for the kiddoes and off we went. The security line was pretty busy for the Asheville airport, but we were through in less than an hour. We grabbed lunch and then waited at the very crowded gate. We boarded onto the plane and off we went!

We arrived in Phoenix, grabbed our rental car and headed off to our hotel. With the time difference, we arrived only an hour later than when we took off so we had a good chunk of the afternoon. We got some tacos for dinner at Fuzzys (which is a chain, I think? We didn't realize that at the time) and then headed over to the Metallica pop-up shop. They had set the shop up so people could get their merch without waiting in line at the show. We were hoping to get a poster, but those sold out as soon as they got them. The people working there said that they had people camping out in tents to get them! We did get Luke a t-shirt though with all the tour dates on the back.

The next morning, we woke up early since the time difference was rough. Got some breakfast and then headed over to the Botanical Gardens which opened at 7:00 AM. While there, we saw all different types of cacti and wild life. There were BIG lizards galore roaming around the area and cute little quails. After the Botanical Gardens we headed to Dobbins Overlook where we were able to see the entire Phoenix valley and you could look as far as the eye could see. It was beautiful! We had lunch at In N Out Burger and spent some time swimming at the pool.

Then it was time to head on over to Chase Field. We had pre-purchased parking and it was easy to find and get into. From there it was a short walk over to the field and the only downside of the game is that my small clutch was about an inch too long and they wouldn't let me bring it in with me. Soooo, I had to run over to a set of lockers where I could pay $10 to safely store my purse for the game.

Once that was taken care of, we entered and headed straight to the team store. Dillon and I got our team pin (this one was an avocado!), Luke got a Diamondback jersey and Charlie got a Diamondback panda. They were playing the Orioles that evening so Dillon, myself and Charlie were decked out in our O's wear, but Lucas wanted to root for the home team. We had looked up food prior to going and learned that Arizona has a special hot dog for their team (The Diamondback Dog) and every game, they make a special hot dog for the opposing team. We found the hot dog stand and got some snacks and drinks and made our way around the field. Dillon went to go get us some beers while the kids and I watched our food at a high top table. While Dillon was gone, a nice gentleman who worked at the stadium came over to me and said "Hey, we have all these tables up here where we didn't sell seats. Why don't you all go up there and eat and you can sit there the whole game if you want." Um, yes please! We had bought the cheapest seats possible with the intent of just meandering around so this was perfect. We had beautiful views of the outfield and could see every action in the game. We had room to move around and the bathrooms were directly beneath us. It was great. The Diamondbacks had a lead until the 4th inning when the O's scored 6 runs and came out ahead and kept the lead the remainder of the game. It was a great game. We made it to the 7th inning and then the little ones started running out of steam so we headed out. What a beautiful evening though!

The next day was a little more open. We learned that the boys were going to have to leave pretty early for the concert because it was expected to be super busy. Charlie and I were going to have a girls afternoon at the Legoland and Aquarium. It was going to be a great day. To kill time in the morning, we decided to check out the Phoenix zoo which was right up the road. We tried to get there early so we could avoid the heat and crowds. Even so, we only lasted until about 10:30 when the temperature started rising above 95 and our feet were giving out. We decided to try out some lunch and then rest before the concert.

When we were getting ready after a quick nap to head out for our evening activities, Dillon looked at his phone and said "Oh, nooooo." He had been trying to stay off his phone for most of the weekend and so he had missed that James Hetfield had been diagnosed with Covid and the Metallica show for Sunday night had been rescheduled. Oh, the tears. Luke cried, Charlie cried (she was looking forward to our girls night). We sat down to recoup and decided the boys would go with us and we'd make the best of a bad situation. Still... what a bummer!

The boys joined us at Legoland, the aquarium and Rainforest Cafe. I know that it can't compete with Metallica, but we enjoyed ourselves!

The next morning, we woke up and had breakfast again, loaded up the rental car and took one more drive around Phoenix. We drove up next to some pretty large and expensive houses and checked out the Arizona Falls. We got to the airport super early, returned our car, got through security and had some lunch. We watched the planes take off and land and then before you knew it, it was our turn to load and take off. We got home Monday evening around 8:30 and were all out of sorts, but we got to bed and woke up the next morning and headed off to school and work!

Our kids are really good little travelers. They really enjoy seeing new things and I'm really glad that we're getting them out to see different parts of our country. Our big travels for 2023 have come to an end, but we're already looking forward to 2024.